Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer of Thanks

30 I will lift You up, O Lord, for You have lifted me up. You have not let those who hate me stand over me in joy. ² O Lord my God, I cried to You for help and You healed me. ³ O Lord, You have brought me up from the grave. You have kept me alive, so that I will not go down into the deep. ⁴ Sing praise to the Lord, all you who belong to Him. Give thanks to His holy name. ⁵ For His anger lasts only a short time. But His favor is for life. Crying may last for a night, but joy comes with the new day.

⁶ As for me, when all was going well, I said, “I will never be moved.” ⁷ O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong. But when You hid Your face, I was troubled. ⁸ I cried to You, O Lord. I begged the Lord for loving-kindness. ⁹ What good will come from my blood, if I go down to the grave? Will the dust thank You? Will it tell how You are faithful?

¹⁰ Hear, O Lord. And show me loving-kindness. O Lord, be my Helper. ¹¹ You have turned my crying into dancing.You have taken off my clothes made from hair, and dressed me with joy. ¹² So my soul may sing praise to You, and not be quiet. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

Laws about Skin Diseases

14 The Lord said to Moses, ² “This is the law of the person with a bad skin disease when he is made clean. He will be brought to the religious leader. ³ The religious leader will go away from the tents and look at him. If the sick person has been healed of the bad skin disease, ⁴ the religious leader must have two live clean birds, cedar wood, a red string and hyssop brought for the one who is to be made clean. ⁵ The religious leader will have one of the birds killed in a clay pot over flowing water. ⁶ Then he will take the living bird with the cedar wood, the red string and the hyssop. He will put them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the flowing water. ⁷ He will put blood seven times on the one who is to be made clean from the bad skin disease. And he will say he is clean. Then he will let the live bird go free over the open field. ⁸ The one to be made clean will wash his clothes, cut off all his hair, wash himself in water, and be clean. After that he may go among the tents. But he must stay outside his tent for seven days. ⁹ On the seventh day he will cut off his hair. He will cut the hair from his head and face, all his hair. Then he will wash his clothes and wash himself in water, and be clean.

¹⁰ “On the eighth day he is to take two male lambs that are perfect, a year old female lamb that is perfect, three-tenths part of a basket of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain gift, and one jar of oil. ¹¹ The religious leader who makes him clean will set the man who is to be made clean and these things before the Lord at the door of the meeting tent. ¹² Then the religious leader will take the one male lamb and bring it for a guilt gift with the jar of oil. He will give them as a wave gift before the Lord. ¹³ He will kill the lamb in the holy place where they kill the sin gifts and the burnt gifts. For the guilt gift belongs to the religious leader like the sin gift. It is most holy. ¹⁴ Then the religious leader will take some of the blood of the guilt gift. He will put it on the bottom part of the right ear of the person to be made clean. And he will put it on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ Then the religious leader will take some of the oil in the jar and pour it into his left hand. ¹⁶ The religious leader will put a finger of his right hand into the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord. ¹⁷ Then the religious leader will put some of the rest of the oil upon the blood of the guilt gift on the bottom part of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand and the big toe of the right foot of the person to be made clean. ¹⁸ The rest of the oil in the religious leader’s hand will be put on the head of the person to be made clean. So the religious leader will pay for the person’s sins before the Lord. ¹⁹ The religious leader will then give the sin gift to pay for the sins of the person to be made clean. After that he will kill the burnt gift. ²⁰ The religious leader will give the burnt gift and the grain gift on the altar. So the religious leader will pay for the person’s sins, and he will be clean.

Paul Does Powerful Works

¹¹ God used Paul to do powerful special works. ¹² Pieces of cloth and parts of his clothes that had been next to his body were put on sick people. Then they were healed of their diseases and demons came out of them.

¹³ There were Jews who went from city to city trying to put demons out of people. Some of these tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus on those who had demons. They said, “I speak to you in the name of Jesus, the One Paul preaches about.” ¹⁴ A Jewish leader of the people by the name of Sceva had seven sons. These sons were trying to do this. ¹⁵ The demon said, “I know Jesus. I know about Paul. But who are you?” ¹⁶ Then the man with the demon jumped on the sons. He had power over them and beat them. They ran out of the house with no clothes on and they were hurt.

¹⁷ All the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus heard about it. Because of this all the people became afraid. And the name of the Lord Jesus was held in great honor. ¹⁸ Many Christians came and told of the wrong things they were doing. ¹⁹ Many of those who did witchcraft gathered their books together and burned them in front of everyone. These books were worth 50,000 pieces of silver money. ²⁰ The Word of the Lord became well-known.